elenasax.bsky.social - Profile | ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

ICYMI, last week we published an interactive map of more than $300 billion worth of Inflation Reduction Act and bipartisan infrastructure law funding. Enter your ZIP code or city and a search radius and find projects in your area: grist.org/accountabili...

submitted 3 days ago • 26 comments

"The Trump administration fired the only locksmith on staff on Friday...the sole employee with the keys and the institutional knowledge needed to rescue visitors from locked restrooms." www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...

submitted 3 days ago • 26 comments

“Either it’s an agency covered by FOIA with the authority to do what it’s doing, or it’s purely advising the president and can’t be directing agencies in the way it now is.”

submitted 3 days ago • 0 comments

This agency is the place that stops hackers from shutting down the power grid

submitted 3 days ago • 22 comments

After reports circulated Wednesday night of the State Department's intent to purchase Tesla vehicles, the document was edited, at 9:12 p.m., and now says the federal contract is for $400 million worth of "armored electric vehicles," but the word "Tesla" was removed. www.npr.org/2025/02/13/g...

submitted 10 days ago • 173 comments

NEW: More than 230 groups led by @copafs.bsky.social call on Congress to "demand the complete restoration of any federal data that have been removed" & work with Trump administration to "prevent any future purge or removal of data from federal agency websites and portals" copafs.org/wp-content/u...

submitted 12 days ago • 0 comments

No “authority”“emanates” from an EO alone! These guys have clearly never tried to enforce one in court. Are these types of make-believe legal docs just to make their people feel better about it? Like why go to the trouble.

submitted 11 days ago • 0 comments

A good summary of the farm and rural programs being affected by Trump's freeze on spending, some details on the number of farmers w contracts. Many of these contracts involve upfront costs. open.substack.com/pub/thecockl...

submitted 12 days ago • 1 comment

So if you advise the president but you also go around dismantling federal agencies, you are subject to FOIA. 👍

submitted 17 days ago • 1 comment

Two weeks into President Trump’s sweeping freeze on foreign aid, H.I.V. groups abroad have not received any funding, jeopardizing the health of more than 20 million people, including 500,000 children. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/05/h...

submitted 18 days ago • 35 comments

No idea if this DOE funding will come through, but sure hope it does. This 5-year, $8.5M (6 DOE, 2.5 match) project would help rural Indiana communities access modern energy technologies like heat pumps and batteries to lower utility bills and improve electricity reliability. We want to get to work.

submitted 19 days ago • 1 comment

Scoop: The Trump admin has quietly issued stop work orders on projects funded under contracts with the Energy Department that reference community benefit plans, an attempt to target a crucial part of Biden’s environmental justice legacy cc @heatmap.news heatmap.news/politics/tru...

submitted 19 days ago • 14 comments

If you have a tip about corruption or abuse of power in the federal government and want to get in touch with POGO's investigative team, our line is always open. Learn how to get in touch with POGO's investigations team: www.pogo.org/send-us-a-tip

submitted 20 days ago • 0 comments

The OMB FOIA request I sent in on Jan. 30 was assigned a tracking number of 2025-609- if most of the requests came in post-Jan 20 that’s around 60 requests a day… They shouldn’t need a new FOIA page and the site was up at least as of early last week- this feels intentional to slow the tide.

submitted 20 days ago • 1 comment

To sum it up, the president ordered water released for fires in LA with water that doesn’t reach LA, at volumes that could cause communities to flood, and in the wrong season for irrigating crops, which will then mean less water for irrigating crops in the summer when it’s actually needed.

submitted 22 days ago • 10 comments

Reposting in light of news about federal websites going down all over the place. FOIA requests supply extra legal protection against this beyond the FRA - the agency can't destroy info responsive to a pending FOIA request. (And courts have imposed sanctions on agencies for doing so in the past.)

submitted 23 days ago • 0 comments

Doing what we can over here. This is to help make sure federal environmental data and websites remain public. More to come. www.sierraclub.org/press-releas...

submitted 26 days ago • 0 comments

We are here to help federal researchers impacted by these changes. Please reach out to us with questions or for free legal advice and support: www.csldf.org/contact

submitted 26 days ago • 0 comments

I'm a former OMB official and this is absolutely true. And let's also not forget that these illegal actions have direct, harmful consequences for actual people. New moms won't get help feeding their infants. Small businesses won't make payroll. People could lose their jobs, their homes.

submitted 26 days ago • 65 comments

I see some suggestions, in the reporting regarding the OMB impoundment order, that a mere delay in spending appropriated funds is legal. But that's not really true. The delay OMB has ordered specifically contradicts the Impoundment Control Act. A thread.

submitted 26 days ago • 97 comments

When directives from political staff are delivered without attribution it makes it more difficult to target FOIA requests to learn more. Any info like this with specific names and positions id’ed is very helpful.

submitted 26 days ago • 0 comments

10 stories of resistance and progress under Trump 1, from Sierra Club’s Environmental Law Program. B/c we can all use a little inspiration and hope this week. www.sierraclub.org/sites/defaul...

submitted 30 days ago • 0 comments

Emails obtained by @sierraclub.bsky.social show Trump advisor and Koch network donor Doug Deason tried to help Chris Wright land a spot on EPA’s Science Advisory when Scott Pruitt was head of EPA during Trump’s first term as president energyandpolicy.org/chris-wright...

submitted 39 days ago • 0 comments

I'm glad the importance of local strategies is getting more attention, but it is still mildly annoying when the NYT calls it a "new" climate strategy to engage with utility commissions. Sierra Club held a PUC Boot Camp for advocates in 2010, and has been heavily involved ever since.

submitted 69 days ago • 0 comments

The world’s 280 million electric bikes and mopeds are cutting demand for oil 4x more than electric cars due to their staggering uptake in China and elsewhere.

submitted 84 days ago • 49 comments

I created an FOI and Open Government starter pack and will add to it when I see more FOI warriors on Bluesky.

submitted 97 days ago • 9 comments

Yes! Thank you for laying this out @publiccitizen.bsky.social - "Trump's 'Department of Government Efficiency' Must Comply with FACA", i.e., have open meetings and be subject to FOIA. (Is there a #TransparencySky yet?)

submitted 93 days ago • 0 comments

Rare attorney job opening at Sierra Club! Come work on the front lines of the climate fight. This is the state-based legal work that makes Sierra Club effective, no matter who is President. #EnergySky #EnvironmentSky jobs.lever.co/sierraclub/a...

submitted 94 days ago • 2 comments

Nugget from our Trump 1 FOIA docs: right-wing donor pushing Chris Wright (DOE pick for Term 2) for a spot on EPA's Science Advisory Committee. They became pals after meeting at a Koch Seminars event where Wright impressed with his climate denial presentation. www.toxicdocs.org/d/dao8r7m7xo...

submitted 97 days ago • 0 comments

Good ideas for transition-related FOIAs- 💚 the details like what email domains to request. Firing, reassigning, or relocating career staff is likely to be a key strategy of the new administration, so also would be helpful to get baseline info about agency personnel. Thanks @muckrock.bsky.social!

submitted 102 days ago • 0 comments

Working on FOIA strategy for Trump 2 following on Sierra Club's successes last round (fun read below). One thought is that we need to prepare for political hires discussing work matters outside of federal email systems- and not caring about norms/legality of that. What else should be on my mind?

submitted 103 days ago • 3 comments